Gurunath Meiyappan, CEO of Chennai Super Kings, today sought time till Monday to appear before the Mumbai crime branch for questioning in connection with the IPL betting scandal, hours after it issued summons to him for personal appearance tomorrow, police said.
Meiyappan, son-in-law of BCCI chief and CSK owner N Srinivasan, is under the crime branch scanner for his proximity to Bollywood actor Vindoo Randhawa who was arrested for his alleged association with bookmakers.
Meiyappan's request was faxed to the crime branch late this evening and it is "under consideration".
"We have received a request from Meiyappan and it is under consideration" a crime branch source said speaking on condition of anonymity.
Earlier in the day, a 4-member team from the Mumbai crime branch had landed in Chennai looking for Meiyappan.
The team headed by DCP Satyanarayana Chaudhary carried a brief to question Meiyappan and, in case he was not available, deliver summons to him, asking him to appear before the crime branch in Mumbai between 11 am and 5 pm tomorrow(Friday).
As neither Meiyappan nor anybody else was present at his Chennai home, a copy of the summons was pasted at his residence and a copy delivered to CSK's office, Joint Commissioner of crime branch Himanshu Roy said.
"A team of four officials led by DCP Satyanarayana Chaudhary was sent to Chennai with a brief to question Meiyappan. They also carried summons for Meiyappan.
"Since the team could not find anybody at his residence, a copy of the summons was pasted at his residence and another copy handed over to a manager at CSK's office," Roy told reporters.
Though the full content of Meiyappan's letter was not immediately known, it is believed he wanted to be spared the trouble of appearing before the police as he wanted to be present for the IPL final in Kolkata on Sunday which his team would be playing.
In a related development, Ratnakar Shetty, Chief Administrative Officer of BCCI, and IPL CEO Sunder Raman tonight visited the office of Mumbai Crime Branch.
The two met Roy and assured them of full cooperation in the ongoing investigations, police sources said.
Meanwhile, amidst reports that a Delhi Ranji player, who is currently taking part in IPL matches, has come under the scanner for alleged betting, Mumbai Police have maintained no such thing has come to light so far.
"Our investigation so far has not indicated any Ranji player's involvement," Roy added.
